Investigations into the Conformation and Stability of Basic Nucleic Acid Structures and their Interactions with other biologicaly important molecules are proposed. Knowledge of the properties of these basic structures is a key to our understanding the function of nucleic acids in the synthesis of proteins, the operation of the genetic apparatus, the regulation of cellular processes, and the mooe of action of chemical agents that cause mutation and cancer. Enzymes will be used to synthesize especially interesting oligomeric components of larger nucleic acids and nuclear magnetic resonance (nmr) experiments will be employed to investigate the structural details of these molecules in aqueous solution. These experiments will be correlated with studies of the absooption of ultraviolet light as the ordered nucleic acids structures are disrupted by increasing the temperature. This information bears upon the stability of the natural counterparts of these synthetic nucleic acids. Finally, the binding of cetain metal ions to nucleic acid helices will be investigated to see if this might represent an extra stabilizing force or possibly provide a basic control element for proteins acting upon nucleic acids. The binding will be monitored by a combination of methods using equilibrium dialysis as well as nmr and ultraviolet spectroscopy, and is a prototype for other studies concerning nucleic acid interaction with drugs, mutagens, and carcinogens.